Special Report Your Job

Initial jobless claims plunge

The number of people filing initial jobless claims drops 53,000 to 610,000. Continuing claims break record at 6 million.

EMAIL  |   PRINT  |   SHARE  |   RSS
 
google my aol my msn my yahoo! netvibes
Paste this link into your favorite RSS desktop reader
See all CNNMoney.com RSS FEEDS (close)
By Aaron Smith, CNNMoney.com staff writer

What will you do with your income tax refund?
  • Spend it
  • Save it
  • Not getting a refund

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Initial jobless claims plunged to 610,000 in the week ended April 11, reported the U.S. Department of Labor.

That's a decline of 53,000 from the prior week, which the government revised to 663,000.

Initial claims measure the number of people filing for unemployment benefits for the first time.

Meanwhile, a record 6 million-plus continued to file unemployment claims during the week ended April 4, the most recent week for which data are available. That's up 172,000 from the prior week's revised tally of 5.85 million.

Initial jobless claims were expected to total 658,000 in the week ended April 11, according to a consensus of economist forecasts compiled by Briefing.com.

John Lonski, chief economist for Moody's Investors Service, said he puts more of his focus on the continuing claims number - and its pessimistic outlook - than the weekly tally.

"That tells you that things are getting worse and we're going to see another rise in the unemployment rate, and that's not good news," said Lonski.

The job market is one of the most important foundations of the economy, and one of the greatest causes for concern. Earlier this month, the government reported that two million jobs were lost through March 2009, bringing the nation's unemployment rate up to 8.5%.  To top of page

Initial jobless claims plunged to 610,000 in the week ended April 11, which was much lower than expected, reported the U.S. Department.
Features
They're hiring!These Fortune 100 employers have at least 350 openings each. What are they looking for in a new hire? More
If the Fortune 500 were a country...It would be the world's second-biggest economy. See how big companies' sales stack up against GDP over the past decade. More
Sponsored By:
More Galleries
10 of the most luxurious airline amenity kits When it comes to in-flight pampering, the amenity kits offered by these 10 airlines are the ultimate in luxury More
7 startups that want to improve your mental health From a text therapy platform to apps that push you reminders to breathe, these self-care startups offer help on a daily basis or in times of need. More
5 radical technologies that will change how you get to work From Uber's flying cars to the Hyperloop, these are some of the neatest transportation concepts in the works today. More
Sponsors
Worry about the hackers you don't know 
Crime syndicates and government organizations pose a much greater cyber threat than renegade hacker groups like Anonymous. Play
GE CEO: Bringing jobs back to the U.S. 
Jeff Immelt says the U.S. is a cost competitive market for advanced manufacturing and that GE is bringing jobs back from Mexico. Play
Hamster wheel and wedgie-powered transit 
Red Bull Creation challenges hackers and engineers to invent new modes of transportation. Play

Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.